


Pavidus

by Hunters_Grace



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Disability, F/F, Tourette's Syndrome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 08:45:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14733747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hunters_Grace/pseuds/Hunters_Grace
Summary: Thalia had struggled with her Tourette's since she was a child, and it had only gotten worse with age and stress.So how will a day at the park end up going when she barely wants to leave the house.And how will a chance meeting and an embarrassing tic end up changing Thalia's life for the better.





	1. Central Park

**Author's Note:**

> Thalia has tourette's and struggles to go about daily life on her own.  
> Reyna works weekends at an ice cream parlour in the park.  
> When their worlds collide, it might just be exactly what they both needed.  
> Hope you enjoy.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

Thalia hated this. She hated going out in public. It scared her, and she struggled to cope with situations when she got scared or anxious… Jason had insisted on the trip to the park though, he wanted to get out of the apartment and he’d wanted her to get out a bit too.

She wouldn’t have left had she been alone, but she could cope a little better with Jason there, at least she knew he’d stick up for her if anything happened.

She could feel her neck twitching as they walked though and she did everything she could to suppress it, her hands making to play with the fidget cube her brother had bought her recently to help her quell her tics.

“Are you okay Thals?” The woman felt her neck tic a couple of times as she looked up at her brother.

“Ye-fuck off! Yeah…” Thalia huffed in annoyance as her tics began to verbalise. She could see the other people in the park passing her looks, so she kept her head down and walked on with her brother by her side. 

The girl struggled to keep control of her tics after the first one slipped out, and she was starting to gain more and more unwanted attention from passers by.

“There’s children around, watch your language will you?!” One middle-aged woman had stated as she ushered her children down the path.

“I’m sorry. She doesn’t mean it, she has tourettes.” Jason made to explain.

“Yeah-fucking hell! Sorry...I can’t-country walking! Help it.”

The woman pulled a tight-lipped smile at the two and walked off.

“What was that?! Country walking?!” Jason asked with a laugh as they kept moving.

“Don’t ask, I don’t know…”

The two continued their walk for a little while, eventually coming to a stop to queue up for an ice cream from the truck in the middle of the park. Thalia focussed her tics on the little fidget cube in her hands as they waited, but was unable to suppress all of her verbal tics. That wasn’t what caused her the problem today though, her tics get worse with nerves and being in a crowd made her anxious, Jason had asked her what she wanted and she’d been unable to respond - her tics occurring in three stages; her neck, verbally, and then her fingers clicked and her hand jolted outwards where it connected rather forcefully with the side of Jason’s head.

“Sorry-wanker! Are you okay?”

“Yeah but damn you hit hard…” Thalia laughed a little at her brother’s response as the people in front of them moved pretty quickly out of the way.

“Hi, how can I help you?” The woman behind the counter smiled down at the pair easily and Thalia could safely say she was one of the most beautiful women she’d ever laid eyes on… which would not help her nervous tics.

The woman had long black hair pulled into a single platt that fell over her shoulder, caramel skin, and deep brown eyes. She looked like a kind woman, Thalia didn’t know how to explain that statement further, she just thought it was true.

“I think I’ll have strawberry please. Thals what do you want?”

‘No, Jason, don’t ask me to speak I’ll tic out something embarrassing.’ Thalia thought to herself as her neck twitched a few times.

“I’d like the-the waitress! Ugh… vanilla please, I’m so-fuck off! Sorry…”

Jason laughed at her, straight up laughed at her. It wasn’t helpful. Thalia just blushed profusely, a similar red colour tinged the cheeks of the woman behind the counter too. The woman smiling slightly at the blue-eyed girl who’d just seemed to ask her out in a tic… The woman knew that was what it was, she’d seen the response of the man with her whilst they were queuing up (apologising for his sister’s tourettes), so she just moved to fetch their orders.

Handing a napkin to the other woman (that she’d written on in her eye line) along with her ice cream - that her brother had taken off her when she started to tic, preventing the girl from dropping the treat.

“What’s that?” Jason had asked once they’d found a bench. Thalia shrugged as she unfolded the napkin to find a phone number scrawled across it with the words ‘At least take me out to dinner first ;) - Reyna’ written underneath it. Thalia looked across the square to the woman who was serving someone else, smiling at her when the wom- Reyna had looked back up to meet her gaze.

Maybe her tourettes was good for something after all… Even if it was an embarrassing way of doing it, she’d managed to get a date out of today, which was far more than she’d expected when she’d left the house this morning.


	2. First Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thalia heads out to a restaurant for the first time in years, worried about dealing with her tourette's in that kind of setting.  
> Luckily she wouldn't be alone.  
> Reyna would be there, although that also added to her nerves...  
> This would be her first date in a very very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First dates and lots of nerves.  
> But it might turn out a lot better than Thalia expects.  
> Hope you enjoy it.  
> Like, comment, and let me know what you think.

“You want me to drive you to the restaurant?” Thalia shook her head at Jason’s question as she buttoned up her shirt.

So she had that date with Reyna tonight, and she was definitely nervous. To be honest it had been years since she’d eaten at a restaurant because she didn’t want her tics ruining other people’s meals, but she’d found herself agreeing to it when Reyna had suggested it as an option after she messaged her earlier.

“No, I want to walk… I-fuck you! It might help me get the nervous tics out of the way, or at least get some level of control over them.”

“Okay, but if you’re going alone then make sure you take-”

“Yeah I know Jase-you’re a bitch! Sorry.”

Jason laughed it off, making to look through his sister’s wardrobe to find what he meant whilst she finished with the shirt she was putting on. He eventually found it and turned to hand it over to Thalia. Her neck kept twitching as she made to thank him (that was one of her most common tics), and he briefly saw Thalia’s fingers click on both hands - managing to jump back when her arm snapped out towards him.

“I’m sorry-fucking nervous!” The taller man smiled as he wrapped an arm around his sister’s shoulder, handing her the hoodie he’d fished out of the wardrobe. She put it on easily - she knew it didn’t exactly scream ‘classy’ but she found it helped stop people yelling at her when she was on her own and her tics got offensive.

“You’ll be fine. I promise. Just try and have fun okay? Besides, it’s a date with a pretty girl, you can’t complain.”

“I’m not complaining-dickhead! I’m just nervous.” Jason nodded his understanding as he helped his sister finish getting ready before he watched her leave as soon as she had everything she might need.

Thalia was beyond nervous as she begun the fifteen minute walk to the restaurant Reyna had picked out.

She hadn’t been out of the house on her own for a long time, it scared her too much, she might not be able to defend herself the same way that others would. If people reacted badly to a tic she could get into bother - she had done at school before, it used to get her into fights until she was diagnosed at age 12 and the teachers made sure to watch her more closely, but she also had a particularly bad tic when situations got bad where she’d just drop to the floor and she couldn’t move until it had passed… that meant if she ever got into any trouble with someone, she was very quickly put in very real danger. Hence why she rarely went out alone anymore.

She could feel her neck twitching as she walked, and tried to focus her hands on the fidget cube in her hands to prevent herself from having any tics worse than her neck.

“Shit!” 

Thalia blushed slightly as her tics started to verbalise, a problem with trying to suppress tics is that they always come out eventually, and if they build up they can get a lot worse than a single curse word.

“Beached whale!”

Oh yeah, and they weren’t always curse words, sometimes it was random, sometimes still offensive… in this case, especially if you were the poor woman who happened to be walking past her. The woman took note of the hoodie she was wearing though and seemed to relax a little more.

The hoodie had been a gift from Jason for her birthday a few years back, it was black and had simple white writing across the front that read ‘KEEP CALM IT’S ONLY TOURETTES’ -   
Thalia had laughed when he’d bought it for her, but when he’d made her wear it on their day out once she’d found that she got a lot less funny looks, and a couple of people had actually approached the siblings to talk to them about it. So she’d worn it when she ventured out alone ever since.

“Fuck I’m nervous!”

A couple of people nearby chuckled as she ticked a few more times, managing to pull her arm back before it lashed out alongside the verbal tic.

Eventually, Thalia managed to get to the restaurant without too much trouble and she paused with her hand on the door handle as she felt her neck tic twice.

“Bullshit! Calm down dickhead!”

The two tics followed each other within moments and Thalia breathed out shakily as she then managed to force herself through the door, standing in front of the maitre d’.

“Good evening Miss, how can I help you?” He was an older man, but his smile made him seem kind enough.

“Awesome beard! Sorry… Erm, I have a-fuck off! A date… Sorry, tourette’s - if I cause any offense to anyone I want to-what a dickhead! Let you know that I don’t mean anything by it.”

“Of course, that’s not a problem. What’s the name the reservation is under?” Thalia paused for a moment to think, hoping that her date had used her first name and not the last name she didn’t know.

“Reyna, I hope…”

The man chuckled at Thalia’s response, checking through the bookings in front of him. The woman feeling the tic in her neck go a few times.

“Hurry up! … I’m so sorry.” The maitre d’ just waved her off with a laugh as she let out the verbal tic. 

“Ah, here we are. She’s already here Miss, just follow me.” 

The two walked through the restaurant to the small circular table at the back of the restaurant. Reyna smiling as she turned to see her approaching, standing to greet her. Thalia falling stunned at the sight - the other woman wore a purple dress that made her look even more stunning than she had before, something Thalia had thought wouldn’t have been possible. She was staring, she knew she was staring but she couldn’t help it, Reyna was beautiful and the blush colouring her cheeks at the attention she was receiving just made her look even more cute.

“Hey you.”

“Hi… I-fucking gorgeous! Yes, that…” Reyna laughed as Thalia just accepted what the tic had said, blushing slightly as she made to accept the hug the other woman had offered her.

The two made to sit down then, Thalia carefully pulling the hoodie off to leave her looking at least slightly smarter whilst she was on this date.

“I love the hoodie by the way.” Reyna had stated as they took their seats, Thalia hanging the item of clothing over the back of her chair.

“Jason bought it me a few years back I-” Thalia paused to bite back a verbal tic, only managing to turn it into a physical one instead. “It helps people understand.”

“Of course, it must be difficult.”

“More frustrating I think-what a bitch! Sorry…” Reyna laughed slightly at the tic, her eyes showing no judgement like others might have done.

“Stop apologising, it’s fine. You can’t help it, and I’m not easily offended so don’t worry.”

“Okay, thank you. So, how are you?” Reyna smiled as Thalia turned the conversation to her. Happily telling her about her day and the conversation flowed on easily from there - they talked about family, about some of the funny customers Reyna met working in the park, the fact that Reyna was still studying at college (to be a neurologist apparently, which meant she understood a little bit about Thalia’s condition from her studies).

“What about you? College or work?”

“Neither… I struggled through education so got out when I could, and there-wanker! Aren’t many people willing to employ someone with-oi! Tourette’s…” Reyna nodded sympathetically, knowing that it must be difficult for people to take a chance when your disability causes people to think you’re being offensive. It wasn’t something that was easy to fit into many jobs, mainly because most jobs involved customer service in some way.

“You’ll find something. It might not be a ‘normal’ job, but normal is boring anyway.”

Thalia smiled as she looked up at the other woman, continually impressed by how she spoke to her like a normal person, how she never took offence to her tics, and how they talked easily despite the fact that the tics could make Thalia struggle to get her sentences out sometimes.

The rest of the night had gone well, Thalia’s tics lessening as she settled into the situation and became less anxious. She’d found herself greatly enjoying the conversation too, she was sure the main reason for that was because it was Reyna she was sharing that conversation with.

The two left the restaurant as the sun began to set, and Thalia walked the other woman back to her apartment near her college. The two laughing at Thalia’s occasional tics - one having rose when she’d caught a man looking at her funny…

“What you looking at! Fucker!... I’m so sorry, tourette’s.” 

Thalia’s explanation was accepted though both herself and Reyna were laughing at the tic even as she made to apologise.

The two eventually stumbled to a stop outside Reyna’s door, the laughter dying down as they looked at each other - both grinning stupidly. Thalia saw the other woman’s gaze drop to her lips before returning to meet her own eyes again. 

“I had a good night…” Reyna muttered softly into the space between them.

“Me too, it was fun. I er-kiss me! Oh Gods…” Thalia stammered over her words, her tics yet again leaving her flushed with embarrassment in front of Reyna. “I’m so sorry, I-”

The other woman cut her off then, pressing their lips together for a few moments.

“I-I-I-erm... Wow…”

“That was gonna be my response…” Thalia chuckled slightly at Reyna’s words, but stopped short to press a longer lasting kiss to the woman’s lips, managing to elicit a rather   
surprised squeak from the Puerto Rican before she managed to respond in kind. “D’you want to, maybe, come inside?”

“I-fuck off bitch! Sorry, I’d love to.” Reyna laughed as she fumbled with her key, finally pushing through the door, Thalia trailing behind her as they made to extend what had already been a pretty amazing night.


End file.
